Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. On Jonathelem-rechokim. Of David. Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.
56 Be gracious unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: all the day long fighting he oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would swallow [me] up all the day long; for they are many that fight against me haughtily.
3 In the day that I am afraid, I will confide in thee.
4 In God will I praise his word, in God I put my confidence: I will not fear; what can flesh do unto me?
5 All the day long they wrest my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves; they mark my steps, because they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 *Thou* countest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 Then shall mine enemies return backward in the day when I call: this I know, for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise [his] word; in Jehovah will I praise [his] word.
11 In God have I put my confidence: I will not fear; what can man do unto me?
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render thanks unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death; [wilt thou] not [keep] my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul in the cave.
57 Be gracious unto me, O God, be gracious unto me; for my soul taketh refuge in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings do I take refuge, until the calamities be overpast.
2 I will call unto God, the Most High; unto God that performeth [all] for me.
3 He will send from the heavens and save me; he hath covered with reproach him that would swallow me up. Selah. God hath sent forth his loving-kindness and his truth.
4 My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down [among] them that breathe out flames, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!
6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down: they have digged a pit before me; they are fallen into the midst thereof. Selah.
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms.
8 Awake, my glory; awake, lute and harp: I will wake the dawn.
9 I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Lord; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations:
10 For thy loving-kindness is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!
To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam.
58 Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
5 Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7 Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted:
8 Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.
9 Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning,—they shall be whirled away.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked:
11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
64 Hear, O God, my voice in my plaint; preserve my life from fear of the enemy:
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, from the tumultuous crowd of the workers of iniquity,
3 Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, [and] have aimed their arrow, a bitter word;
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they concert to hide snares; they say, Who will see them?
6 They devise iniquities: We have it ready, the plan is diligently sought out. And each one's inward [thought] and heart is deep.
7 But God will shoot an arrow at them: suddenly are they wounded;
8 By their own tongue they are made to fall over one another: all that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare God's doing; and they shall wisely consider his work.
10 The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David: a Song.
65 Praise waiteth for thee in silence, O God, in Zion; and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities have prevailed against me: our transgressions, thou wilt forgive them.
4 Blessed is he whom thou choosest and causest to approach: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, of thy holy temple.
5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, thou confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the distant regions of the sea. …
6 Who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with power;
7 Who stilleth the raging of the seas, the raging of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.
8 And they that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou hast visited the earth, thou hast watered it; thou greatly enrichest it: the river of God is full of water; thou providest their corn, when thou hast so prepared it:
10 Thou dost satiate its furrows, thou smoothest its clods, thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof.
11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness:
12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the hills are girded with gladness.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, yea, they sing.
7 A [good] name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: in that that is the end of all men, and the living taketh it to heart.
3 Vexation is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools in the house of mirth.
5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise, than to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad, and a gift destroyeth the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; better is a patient spirit than a proud spirit.
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be vexed; for vexation resteth in the bosom of fools.
10 Say not, How is it that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, and profitable to them that see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defence [as] money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, [that] wisdom maketh them that possess it to live.
13 Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what he hath made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity enjoy good, and in the day of adversity consider: God hath also set the one beside the other, to the end that man should find out nothing [of what shall be] after him.
12 Be as *I* [am], for *I* also [am] as *ye*, brethren, I beseech you: ye have not at all wronged me.
13 But ye know that in weakness of the flesh I announced the glad tidings to you at the first;
14 and my temptation, which [was] in my flesh, ye did not slight nor reject with contempt; but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
15 What then [was] your blessedness? for I bear you witness that, if possible, plucking out your own eyes ye would have given [them] to me.
16 So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?
17 They are not rightly zealous after you, but desire to shut you out [from us], that ye may be zealous after them.
18 But [it is] right to be zealous at all times in what is right, and not only when I am present with you—
19 my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you:
20 and I should wish to be present with you now, and change my voice, for I am perplexed as to you.
21 And Jesus, going forth from thence, went away into the parts of Tyre and Sidon;
22 and lo, a Canaanitish woman, coming out from those borders, cried [to him] saying, Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came to [him] and asked him, saying, Dismiss her, for she cries after us.
24 But he answering said, I have not been sent save to the lost sheep of Israel's house.
25 But she came and did him homage, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answering said, It is not well to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dogs.
27 But she said, Yea, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the table of their masters.
28 Then Jesus answering said to her, O woman, thy faith [is] great. Be it to thee as thou desirest. And her daughter was healed from *that* hour.
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